


Failed Mission (Lance Make Better Life Choices)

by monicalex



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Gay Disaster Keith (Voltron), Gen, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lance (Voltron) Needs a Hug, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Mission Fic, Pre-Season/Series 03, Pre-Slash, Sick Lance (Voltron), Sickfic, We're going to pretend that season 8 doesn't exist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 00:40:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19878742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monicalex/pseuds/monicalex
Summary: Lance decides that going on a mission with Keith while sick was a good idea and gets hurt on that mission. With the rest of Voltron off playing diplomats, Keith is stuck helping Lance not die.Basically just, gratuitous Hurt/Comfort goodness with Keith and Lance being disasters. Of course, Allura is disappointed.





	Failed Mission (Lance Make Better Life Choices)

**Author's Note:**

> My salt for the end of Voltron is never-ending so I thought I would write some wholesome Pre-Klance stuff to cheer me up. If the canon won't give my sons a happy moment, then I sure as hell will. Thanks for my friend in Physics who pushed me to finally write this piece and for making sure that I actually went to sleep. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> There is some description of injury and a mild panic attack so if that's not your jam, you have been warned. If you feel that I'm missing any tags or warnings, please let me know!

Lance felt like human garbage. It wasn’t a particularly new feeling as he had been feeling this way for at least the past week. His head was throbbing sharply, his mouth felt drier than his social life, and he was two hours late for a Very Important MissionTM with Keith. As tempting as it was to roll back over and sleep into the next decade, he would never hear the end of it from the other Paladins if he slept through a mission. He blearily went through the motions of dressing for a mission, feeling as if his body was slowly being roasted to a crisp. To compound on his generally shitty day, as soon as he stumbled into the bridge, he was met with yelling by both Allura and Keith. Yay. Nothing that they said registered as he was constantly fighting back the urge to vomit and pass out in quick succession. As the floor kept wobbling out from underneath him, he felt a sudden hard push on his right shoulder throwing him off balance. Before he could even realize what was going on, Keith managed to cross the room and get close enough to push Lance.

“Lance, are you even listening?” Keith frowned with his arms crossed.

_Damn. Keith is irritating at me again,_ Lance thought, _send help._

“Yeah, yeah sure. But just to make sure that we are on the same page, can you repeat everything you just said?” Lance said guiltily rubbing his neck.

Allura rolled her eyes, “Lance, I was explaining the mission. Which I already had to re-explain because you were late.”

Lance grinned to cover his grimace of pain, “What can I say other than perfection will come when it will come.”

Keith’s face seemed to sour even further.

“Lance,” Keith said warningly, “Take this mission seriously for once. You’ve already made us wait for the past hour. At least have enough respect to actually pay attention to Allura’s directions.”

“Jesus, Keith. I showed up, didn’t I? You don’t need to get your mullet in a twist.”

“You showed up over an hour late. Do you have any idea how disrespectful that is? Let alone how inconsiderate that is for Allura and I. If you’re not going to show enough respect and dedication to show up on time and listen, don’t show up.”

Lance could feel his face start to flush, “Just because I don’t have a constant stick up my ass, doesn’t mean I don’t care. Not everyone can be a lifeless-machine, Keith. After all, there can only be so much emotional constipation in one room.”

“This is exactly what I’m talking about, not everything is a fucking joke. There’s a time and place and you don’t know boundaries. You show blatant disregard for the other paladins and will do whatever you want, regardless of the cost. You act like Voltron means nothing to you,” Keith approached Lance glaring.

Lance poked Keith in the chest, “Voltron means the world to me. It’s the one time I’ve showed up late and I contribute just as much as the other paladins and unlike you I can actually do what Shiro and Allura tell me.”

Keith’s scowl set in deeper, “You don’t though Lance. You show up and contribute nothing. Why are you even here?”

As soon as the words spilled out of Keith’s mouth, he felt immediate regret and guilt but it was too late to take back what he said. The silence in the few seconds after was deafening as everyone tried to process what Keith just said. Lance’s face momentarily shifted from anger to intense hurt, but was quickly replaced by a stoic face. Keith didn’t miss Lance’s devastated expression though.

Lance turned his gaze away, “I’m already having a bad day; I don’t need your shit Karen.”

“Lance, having another girl turn you down isn’t the end of the world. Just man up and focus on the mission,” Keith said still caught in his anger.

Before Keith and Lance could escalate the situation, Allura stepped between the two of them.

“Stop it, the both of you. Keith, keep your comments to yourself. Lance, pay attention and show that you’re as dedicated to Voltron as you say.”

Lance saluted, “Don’t worry princess, I’ll make sure that this mission is a complete success. And that mission is…”

Allura sighed as she walked back over to her workstation, “I’ve already sent the coordinates to Keith. We’ve gotten information from a reliable source of a recently abandoned Galra base on a remote planet on the outskirts of the Ceti star system. Your mission is to survey the planet to see if there is any usable information left on the base. Remember, we’ll be out on a diplomatic mission for the next two quintents so be careful. If you guys get into trouble, it’ll be a while before we can get there. If for some reason the base isn’t abandoned, do not engage. Just get out of there. If we don’t see you guys when we get back, we’ll assume something went wrong and we’ll come and intervene. Everything clear?”

Lance nods.

“Perfect. You’ll be taking the red lion, good luck Paladins.”

While normally Lance would put up a fight about leaving Blue behind, Lance’s headache had worsened which drained what little will Lance had to resist anything. Lance was secretly grateful that Keith was piloting as he didn’t think he would be able to function enough to pilot. This would have meant calling in sick. No one else would have been able to fill in for the mission, and Lance would be the reason for another failed mission. He doesn’t want to disappoint the team more than he already has.

Lance blearily trailed behind Keith as they entered the Red Lion. The moment Lance entered the cockpit, he dropped down into one of the passenger seats. Keith piloted the lion out of its hanger and took off towards its destination.

* * *

Lance was unusually quiet during the trip as he was struggling to stay conscious. However, Lance couldn’t fight off the constant drifting in and out. The sharp throbbing pain in his head would not seem to go away and the constant churning of his stomach seemed to worsen. Lance cycled through intense flashes of heat and waves of cold under his paladin armor which further fed into Lance’s general discomfort.

_Going on this mission may have been a bad idea,_ Lance thought wincing in pain.

Interrupting Lance’s self-deprecating thoughts, Keith shouted back, “Hey, Lance. I’m not complaining or anything but you’ve been really quiet. Are you ok?”

Lance brushed off the comment, “Aw Keith, are you concerned about me? Don’t worry about me, my dear prickly friend, I just don’t have much to say right now.”

“You have nothing to talk about?” Keith turned around and raised his eyebrow, “You of all people, have _nothing_ you want to say?”

“Hey! I don’t talk that much,” Lance pouted, “I do eventually run out of energy. Anyways, it gets boring when you don’t respond.”

Keith sighed, “Lance, I have literally watched you go on a rant for _two hours_ about why you thought that cream puffs were basically the same as raviolis.”

“That’s an exaggeration. And even if I did, I’m not wrong though.”

Keith turned around and refused to acknowledge Lance’s comment.

Lance shouted, “No response? Come on Keith, I thought you were complaining about me not speaking. Keith? Keith?”

Keith continued to focus on piloting the lion. Lance and Keith sat in silence. Lance felt increasingly worn out over the course of the trip. He prayed to every deity that he could think of to keep him alive and conscious. It seemed like an awfully tall order. Thankfully, Lance could see them slowly approaching their destination. The planet was fairly small and was covered in vibrant green. The planet didn’t seem to have very much water and it was surrounded by a halo of glowing dust in a vast array of different colors.

While they were admiring the gorgeous planet and were maybe a few thousand feet above the surface, the red lion shut off and started to rapidly fall towards the surface of the planet. Lance felt himself be violently jerked around in his seat.

“Shit!” Keith swore as he desperately attempted to get the lion responding again.

Lance felt the seatbelts biting deeply into his chest restricting his ability to breathe and rubbing his skin raw.

“Keith, why is the planet getting bigger?” Lance yelled as they continued to hurtle closer and closer to the planet’s surface.

“I don’t know! Once second, we were fine, then the lion stopped responding. I think the planet’s magnetic field is fucking with the lion! I can’t stop it but I can try to keep the crash from killing us. Lance, I would brace for impact,” Keith shouted as he attempted to keep the lion steady.

Lance clutched tightly onto his seat as they saw the surface of the planet grow closer and closer. When they were only a few hundred feet above the planet’s surface, Lance felt the belt around him snap.

As Lance felt himself be thrown out of his seat, Lance screamed out, “KEITH!”

Then, Lance was thrown against the opposite wall of the cockpit. After hearing a sickening snap, he blacked out.

* * *

Lance came to what felt like hours later. As his eyes opened, he could see sunlight peeking through the front window of the lion. He was sprawled out on the floor of the cockpit face down up against the wall. Lance’s head felt like a nail was being continuously pounded into his head and his vison was swimming. After he slowly propped himself up in a sitting position, he could see his knee was bent the wrong way and the surrounding skin was quickly turning a dark purple. The armor around his knees had been completely shattered and his legs were covered in rough scrapes. His already churning stomach lurched even further at the sight. Lance’s face blanched and he couldn’t seem to move or even cry out in pain.

Keith called out, “Damn, that was a rough landing. There’s no way I’m getting the lion flying any time soon. Hey Lance, my comms aren’t working. Are yours still working?”

Lance didn’t respond. After a few agonizing seconds of silence, Keith decided to speak again.

“Lance! Are you ok back there,” Keith worriedly called out, “Lance, I need a response buddy?”

Keith’s words seemed to break Lance out of his trance. He groaned out in pain before vomiting all over the floor of the lion. He collapsed back down and doubled in on himself. One second Keith was shouting out Lance’s name and the next Keith was kneeling by Lance’s side helping him back into a sitting position.

“Hey, Lance. You’re ok, you’re ok,” Keith comforted Lance.

While Keith attempted to get Lance into a stable position, he looked down and saw the swollen, bloody mess that was Lance’s leg and immediately started to freak out.

“Oh my God. Lance, are you ok? What am I saying? Of course, you’re not ok, your knee is bent in and covered in blood.”

Keith started feeling around Lance to see if he was hurt anywhere else when he realized that Lance was uncomfortably warm and was covered in a light sheen of sweat. Keith also realized that Lance was shivering despite how warm he was and his breathing was incredibly labored.

“Lance, you’re burning up. Please tell me that you didn’t come on this mission while you were sick?”

  
Shit, Lance thought, I’m never going to hear the end of this. Lance knew that lying wouldn’t get him out of this situation so he remained quiet.

  
Keith hesitantly asked, “How long have you been sick?”

  
The seconds of silence before Lance spoke felt agonizing for him, “At least the past week.”

  
“Lance,” A painful realization hit Keith, “Crap, none of our comms are working. And the rest of Voltron won’t be back for another two quintents. They won’t even know that we’re gone.”

  
Keith’s realization sent him into a spiral of worry. He had no idea how to help the sick and injured Lance. His mind conjured increasingly distressing and gruesome images of Keith causing Lance’s death. He felt his chest restrict, his breath growing shallow, and his heart pounding. He didn’t realize that he had fallen into a sitting position and started shaking until he felt Lance’s hands rest comfortingly on his shoulders.

  
“Hey, Keith it’s ok,” Lance soothed Keith, “Allura and Shiro will know that something went wrong and they’ll come.”

  
Lance attempted to adjust himself but he jerked his broken knee too sharply causing him to lock up and cry out in pain. Lance’s scream caused Keith to shake even more. Lance cupped Keith’s face in his hands.

  
“Keith, it’s ok, it’s ok,” Lance gently stroked the sides of his face, “It’s just a fracture, I just moved my leg a bit too much. It’ll be fine.”

  
Lance gathered Keith into his arms and consoled the distraught Keith until his shaking stilled and his breathing returned to normal.

  
Keith couldn’t meet Lance’s eyes, “I’m sorry about that Lance. You’re the one who’s hurt and I decided to panic. I should be the one comforting you and - ”

  
Lance cuts him off, “Keith, you don’t have to apologize. It’s not your fault that you had a panic attack. It’s no one’s fault. Especially if you haven’t seen it before, bad breaks look disturbing.”

  
“Thanks.”

  
“Based on your reaction, I’m guessing you’ve never splinted a broken bone before?”

  
Keith tilts his head and furrows his eyebrows, “No, why?”

  
“Well, we need to stop the bone from moving so it can heal properly. I don’t want to need it re-set. Do you happen to have any first aid stuff on Red?”

  
“Surprisingly, yes. I’ve gotten into enough scrapes that Shiro’s forced me to keep one in the lion.”

  
Keith walked back to the pilot’s seat and picked up a fairly large first aid kit from underneath it before walking back over.

  
Lance opened it up, “I would do this myself but I can’t reach the break. I need you to take the antiseptic and clean out the scrapes around my knees first but be careful not to move my knee too much.”

  
Keith dutifully carried out Lance’s instructions, taking particular care whenever he saw Lance wince. Eventually, Keith finished cleaning Lance’s wounds. However, Keith realized that despite Lance’s calm demeanor that he was still shaking and barely conscious.

“Give me a minute Lance,” Keith said while walking back towards his seat.

  
Keith reached for his jacket that he left on the seat of the lion and draped it over Lance.

  
Lance snuggled into the jacket, “Thank you, Keith.”

  
Lance continued, “Ok, now I need you to go out and get two sticks to splint my knee, one should be long enough to reach from my shoulders to my feet and the other should reach from my hip to my feet. Do you need me to repeat that?”

  
“No, I got it.”

  
As Lance drifted off warmed by Keith’s jacket, he saw Keith leave the lion.

* * *

What felt like a few minutes later, Lance was gently rocked awake by Keith carrying a pile of sticks and a bunch of other unidentifiable things.

  
“I wasn’t sure if any of these sticks would be long enough so I just grabbed a bunch. I also found some berries that I thought looked like blueberries and water that looked pretty clean. “

  
“Thank you, Keith,” Lance said as Keith handed him the berries and water, “I thought I only asked you for the sticks?”

  
Keith flushed, “Well, I know that food and water is really important when you’re sick so I got some. Especially, if they won’t be getting here for at least of couple of days.”

  
“That’s really sweet of you. Are you sure these aren’t poisonous?”

  
“As I’ve already eaten some, I hope not.”

  
Lance weakly chuckled, “Well I guess we’ll find out.”

  
While Lance quietly ate the berries given to him, Keith sorted through the sticks until he found ones that matched the directions that Lance gave him.

  
“So how do I actually splint your leg?”

  
Lance sat himself up against the wall, “Ok, I’m going to need you to completely cover the sticks with a thick layer of gauze from the first aid kit but save a decent bit to tie the splint together.”

  
Keith quickly did as Lance instructed.

  
“Now, this is the fun part, I need you to take the longer stick, stick it under my forearm and tie it around my torso using the gauze. Then take the other stick, straighten my leg and tie the two sticks together tightly so my leg does not move. It’s going to hurt a lot but it will prevent the break from getting worse or causing any more damage. Ok?”

  
“I got it. Do you want something to hold onto while I splint your leg?”

  
“Yes, that would be really helpful.”

  
Keith grabbed one of the many extra sticks and handed it to Lance to hold onto while his leg was being put back in place.

  
Keith tried to set Lance’s leg as quickly as he could and it was going well until Keith had to actually straighten Lance’s leg with the other stick. Lance screams startled Keith causing him to lose tension in the splint which forced him to start over. During the entire ordeal, Lance’s face was tinged green and his grip was so tight on the stick he was holding that Keith was surprised that it hadn’t snapped it. Every time Lance would let out a yelp, Keith would feel immensely guilty. However, Keith pushed through to keep the process as quick and painless as possible. After what felt like ages for Lance, Keith finished splinting his leg. As soon as he finished securing Lance’s leg, Keith collapsed next to Lance against the wall and let out a deep breath of relief.

  
“Out of curiosity, why do you know so much about first aid?”

  
Lance had a slight distant smile, “Luis, my oldest brother, is an ER Nurse. He was very protective of all of our siblings. Especially with me since I was the youngest. As soon as we were able to understand basic directions, he made us learn how to perform first aid. From breaks to burns, he made sure were prepared for anything. It didn’t matter if there weren’t any bears in Varadero, we were going to be prepared because goddamn it what if we happened to run into one.”

  
Lance’s face lit up when he talked about his family. Just for a second, it seemed like the sickly glow that surrounded him lifted. Keith enjoyed seeing Lance genuinely happy. He hoped that maybe he might be able to inspire that same emotion from Lance one day too.

  
Lance broke Keith’s train of thought, “Thank you, by the way. Hopefully the rest of Voltron gets here soon so you can actually complete the mission. I’m so sorry that I fucked up the mission and that you’re stuck here helping me.”

  
“Lance,” Keith said firmly, “It’s not your fault that you broke your leg and it’s definitely not your fault that you’re sick. Even if it was your fault that the mission failed, which it’s not, I would much rather be here making sure that you’re ok than completing the mission.”

  
Lance refused to meet Keith’s eyes, “It’s just – You were right about what you said this morning. I shouldn’t even be here. I can’t seem to do anything right. I can’t even show up on time to leave for a mission. You and the rest of Voltron do so much and work so hard and I’m just me. I’m loud, I’m irresponsible, and I never know when to shut up. I’m more than perfectly aware that I’m only here because I’m the only one who can pilot Blue. I’m the seventh wheel”

  
“Lance, do you really think that about yourself? I’m so sorry that I said that to you. You work so hard and sacrifice so much for Voltron. Even just your jokes are enough to brighten my day. You are so kind and so caring and you make the Castle feel more like home. Even if you did nothing for our team, we would still want you here because you are our friend.”

  
Keith tilted Lance’s chin up to force him to meet his eyes, “Lance we all love you and care for you so much and while I might not always show it, you are so important to me.”

  
At Keith’s words, Lance broke down in tears and Keith clutched Lance to his chest as Lance cried. Keith ran his hands through his hair and whispered words of comfort. Eventually his tears subsided and Keith was left cradling Lance in his arms as both sat in comfortable silence.

  
“Thank you, Keith. For everything,” Lance muttered into Keith’s chest.

  
“Don’t worry about it.”

  
Lance and Keith both drifted off to sleep with Lance still wrapped in Keith’s jacket. Both held each other close against the wall of the cockpit as the sun set outside the lion.

**Author's Note:**

> I started re-watching the beginning of Voltron recently which of course made me miss the simplicity of earlier seasons. Honestly, you can pry Season 1/2 Klance from my dead cold hands. I hope y'all enjoyed the fic because I'm currently McSuffering because of midterms. I wrote this instead of studying for the Calculus 2 mid-term so I'll try to actually do the studying thing. This is my first fic so feedback is welcomed, especially through comments. Hopefully, I can write more in the near future but with Physics kicking my ass that might not be possible.


End file.
